A Shopify store is an online retail storefront built using Shopify, one of the world's leading ecommerce platforms. Shopify provides merchants with the tools to create and manage online stores, process payments, handle inventory, and fulfill orders. The platform powers over 4 million stores worldwide, ranging from small independent sellers to major brands like Allbirds, Gymshark, and Kylie Cosmetics.
Shopify has become the dominant platform for DTC brands due to its ease of use, extensive app ecosystem, and powerful built-in features. Stores can be customized with themes and apps, integrated with social media selling, and connected to shipping and fulfillment providers. The platform also offers Shopify Plus for enterprise merchants requiring advanced features and dedicated support.
For competitive intelligence and market research, Shopify stores offer unique advantages. Many Shopify stores expose their product data through standardized endpoints (like /products.json), making it possible to track product catalogs, pricing, and inventory programmatically. This transparency has enabled the development of comprehensive datasets covering thousands of DTC brands and hundreds of thousands of products.